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About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in jo... (More)

About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community. (Hide)

Food activist Raj Patel to speak at Hidden Villa

Uploaded: Jan 2, 2015

Food activist, journalist and author Raj Patel will be at Hidden Villa Saturday, Jan. 24, to speak about the global food system ? and how it's broken.

Patel is best known for his 2008 book, "Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World's Food System," which explores the forces that create a system in which much of the world is obese, and much of the world is malnourished.

He is also a fellow at the Institute for Food and Development Policy, an Oakland nonprofit and food think-thank (also known as Food First) that focuses on issues like food justice, poverty, labor, hunger, agroecology.

At the free Hidden Villa talk, Patel will share what he's currently working on: a documentary, book and multimedia project called "Generation Food," (He'll show a clip from the film portion.)

"Everyone knows we live with a broken food system, but the good news is less often shared: we already know how feed the world for our generation, and generations to come," a description on the project website reads. "From Malawi to Michigan, communities and organizations are already building better ways to eat today so that everyone can eat well tomorrow.

"We want to share their stories with you, and yours with them online, on screen, on paper and in person. Changing the food system couldn't be more urgent."

Hidden Villa's Duveneck Forum book group will also meet to read and discuss "Stuffed and Starved" the week before Patel's visit, on Thursday, Jan. 15, 6:15-8 p.m. The first 10 people to register for and attend the book club (it's free) will have priority tickets for the Jan. 24 event. Sign up here.